G0LUJhttps://www.g0luj.com
Fri, 03 May 2019 20:12:10 +0000 en-GB
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1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.1.1Friday 3rd May 2019 – Sporadic E openinghttps://www.g0luj.com/?p=557
https://www.g0luj.com/?p=557#commentsFri, 03 May 2019 20:07:09 +0000https://www.g0luj.com/?p=557Friday was a good day for Sporadic-E, with further opening to South America on 12m and 10m. 6m reception was using the Wellbrook Loop ALA100LN at IO83ls – it’s not designed for it, but it does perform. Changes have been made to the antenna signal distribution system in an attempt to improve reception on 12m and 10m in the light of previous results – it’s too early to draw conclusions.

]]>https://www.g0luj.com/?feed=rss2&p=5572WSJT-X 2.1.0-rc5 released for testing, incorporating FT4https://www.g0luj.com/?p=552
https://www.g0luj.com/?p=552#respondTue, 30 Apr 2019 14:36:43 +0000https://www.g0luj.com/?p=552A new candidate release of WSJT-X has been announced on the WSJT-X home page.

It incorporates a new mode, FT4, a description of which is available here.

Activity has already begun, as seen on the map below from pskreporter. It is too early to say how popular this mode will become, what frequencies it will settle on and whether it will replace or complement FT8.

]]>https://www.g0luj.com/?feed=rss2&p=5400Caravan and 10m WSPR beaconhttps://www.g0luj.com/?p=514
https://www.g0luj.com/?p=514#commentsThu, 04 Apr 2019 13:18:27 +0000https://www.g0luj.com/?p=514I’ve recently been able to make use of a caravan for some radio activities.

The (temporary) antennas are in the picture below:

24/7 monitoring and reporting of FT8 on 50.313 and 144.174 MHz is accomplished through two SDRPlay units and two Raspberry Pis.

Today, 4th April 2019, was the first reception of my low powered WSPR beacon using the Zachtek TX_LP1 unit.

The purpose of the installation was to provide a stand-alone WSPR capability to help detect short openings on 10m, such as Sporadic-E. The power is about 1W from a small amplifier and it uses a 10m mobile whip on top of the caravan.

Today, the beacon was picked up by OZ7IT, indicating the completed installation may well be capable of fulfilling its stated purpose:

]]>https://www.g0luj.com/?feed=rss2&p=514124 Mhz and up reception 1-7 April 2019https://www.g0luj.com/?p=502
https://www.g0luj.com/?p=502#respondTue, 02 Apr 2019 09:04:38 +0000https://www.g0luj.com/?p=502After a disappointing week, we are now into April and we are hopeful of seeing improvements.

Friday 5 April 2019 – Nothing to Report. It is noted on other blogs that there were openings that I did not experience – antennas / noise floor? There is sufficient difference for investigation – which is one of the outcomes I hoped for when this period of comparative reception effort was begun some weeks ago.

Saturday 6 April 2019

12m – Europe

10m – Europe

Sunday 7 April 2019 – Nothing to Report

Conclusions – Thanks to the consistent blogging of conditions by G3XBM and EI7GL, it has become clear that my reception performance on 12m and 10m is less effective than desired.

My location hundreds of miles further North in latitude of either station is an obvious handicap. The antenna is a large aperture loop, optimised for the low bands with reduced performance in the higher HF spectrum. It is also orientated with maximum reception lobes East/West and nulls North/South – which would further hurt reception on 12m/10m where openings to the South provide the DX opportunities at this time. Daily logging will now cease – logging of events of interest will continue.

]]>https://www.g0luj.com/?feed=rss2&p=502024 MHz and up Reception 24-31 March 2019https://www.g0luj.com/?p=471
https://www.g0luj.com/?p=471#respondSun, 24 Mar 2019 18:34:04 +0000https://www.g0luj.com/?p=471I’ve been following the interesting blog of John, EI7GL. I have a common interest in monitoring the higher HF bands and, recently, some of the VHF bands for any openings that may occur in the challenging location of North West Europe. So, starting today, I will catalogue any interesting observations at the end of each day for the record to complement John’s efforts. Modes will be FT8 and CW (captured by CW Skimmer).

I’ve set the lowest band for observation at 24 MHz (12m). Quite often at higher latitudes the MUF is high enough for 12m, but not for 10m. I’m interested to see how often 12m is open, but 10m is not, on any particular day.

12m – An opening to South America – Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina between 1200-1400z

10m – An outlier, ZP4KFX, heard but mostly only open to South West Europe

2m – UK, Ireland and just into the European continent.

Monday 25 March – Nil on 12m/10m. Locals only on 6m/2m.

Tuesday 26 March – Nil on 12m/10m. Locals only on 6m/2m.

Wednesday 27 March – Nil on 12m/10m. Locals only on 6m/2m.

Thursday 28 March – EA8OM on 12m. Locals only on 10m/6m/2m.

Friday 29 March – Nil on 12/10m. Locals only on 6m/2m.

Saturday 30 March – Nil on 12m/10m. Locals on 6m, F1JG on 2m.

Sunday 31 March

Nil on 12m. Poland on 10m.

6m – MSK144 produced European openings.

2m – High activity levels, but no real DX

]]>https://www.g0luj.com/?feed=rss2&p=471014 MHz open to the Americas late eveninghttps://www.g0luj.com/?p=457
https://www.g0luj.com/?p=457#respondFri, 15 Mar 2019 17:01:32 +0000https://www.g0luj.com/?p=457Analysing CW reports generated by the CW Skimmer at G0LUJ, it was noticed that stations in the Americas on 20m were being copied well into the evening yesterday. Typically the band has been closing down in the early evening so an improvement was clearly evident.

]]>https://www.g0luj.com/?feed=rss2&p=457028 MHz Beacons Spring Return?https://www.g0luj.com/?p=451
https://www.g0luj.com/?p=451#respondFri, 15 Mar 2019 16:45:36 +0000https://www.g0luj.com/?p=451Some may have noticed an absence of postings over the last few months. There has not been much to report – the LF/MF reception is as expected, the antenna/receiver/decoder system has been functioning well, and I’ve made no changes to the configuration. I have been waiting for the higher bands to show some lease of life, which seems to have occurred today.

Apart from the local beacon GB3XMB – which is received by ground-wave – the CW beacon segment of 10m has been mostly silent at G0LUJ since the small seasonal Christmas enhancement in 2018.

Today, a number of European beacons were decoded over a long period. Consequently, I will shortly reactivate my KiwiSDR 10m beacon monitor page.

Closing Remarks
---------------
On the basis of this test it is evident JT9-10 mode in SlowJT9 decodes
at lower signal level than JT9-5 can. Confidence in this test is lower
than for previous runs. Many receiving stations had software configuration
issues. Nevertheless there is clear evidence JT9-10 decodes more times in
a given night than JT9-5 when signals are weak.
Additional reports for single modes were received from several stations.
In addition, several stations sent reports which could not be reasonably
processed (e.g. stations which were also transmitting). All reports are
appreciated.
This experiment ended abruptly at dawn on January 16 due to fire in the
antenna loading coil!
END OF REPORT

Closing Remarks
---------------
On the basis of this test it is evident JT9-5 mode in SlowJT9 decodes
at significantly lower signal level than JT9-2 can. Even considering
signal fading with the longer transmission periods, JT9-5 gets the
message through more often.
Additional JT9-5 reports were received from DF6NM, LA3EQ, VE7VV, G0MRF.
2E0ILY reported reception on JT9-5 and JT9-2. KA9CFD reported JT9-5 and
JT9-2 with 5 appearing earlier in the evening than 2.